To frighten someone severely and repeatedly, often using violence or threats to control them.
From French 'terroriser,' based on Latin 'terror' meaning 'great fear.' During the French Revolution, the 'Reign of Terror' gave us this modern usage. It combines terror with the '-ize' suffix meaning 'to cause or make.'
The term 'terrorism' was literally invented during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror (1793-94). What started as a political strategy of state-sponsored fear became the name for a global phenomenon—showing how language evolves to name new threats.
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